Simeon P. Runyan

Simeon P. Runyan, a prosperous farmer of the Fourth District of
James County, was born in Bledsoe County, June 26, 1821. He is the sixth
of nine children of John and Nancy (Mullendore) Runyan. The parents were
natives of Sevier County, Tenn., of Welsh and German descent. The father
was born about 1778, and died in Hamilton (now James) County in 1854. He
was a successful farmer and stanch Democrat. The mother was born in
1794, and died at the home of our subject, August 27, 1875, in her
eighty-first year. They were married in their native county, and spent
their lives in Sevier, Rhea and Bledsoe Counties, East Tenn. Our subject
received a liberal education. He taught school several years, in
connection with his farming interests. At twenty-two or twenty-three
years of age he purchased and settled on a farm in Hamilton (now James)
County. He lived there fourteen years. In 1858 he moved to his present
place of residence. He served one year in the war with the Cherokee
Indians, in Col. Powell's Regiment. He was quartermaster sergeant of the
Fifth Tennessee Regiment, Mounted Infantry, Federal Army, for one year,
during the late civil war. He is a Republican and a worthy citizen. By
his own efforts and judicious management has become the possessor of
upward of 1,000 acres of valuable land. July 22, 1844, he married Miss
Nancy C. Birgar, who was born in Roane County about 1825, and died
September 4, 1860. She was a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church
(North), and mother of five sons and three daughters, of whom two sons
and one daughter are dead. One son, recruited in the Federal Army, was
in battle before he was mustered into service, and no particular account
of him was given in the battle of
Knoxville
. February 8, 1871, our subject wedded Mrs. Susan J. Ezell, born in
McMinn
County
in 1846. To this union one son and two daughters have been born. Mr. and
Mrs. Runyan are members of the
Methodist
Church
.